Cowboy on Great Movie Ride

We've been to WDW and DHS many, many times but we usually go at a time of year that is less crowded. This means that, more than likely, they are only running the gangster at the Great Movie Ride. This year, however, we are arriving on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. So, I'm hoping to have an opportunity (or two or three) to see the cowboy on the Great Movie Ride.

What I need to know is what are my chances of seeing the Cowboy on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend? Should I re-arrange things so that we are at DHS on Saturday?

As far as I know, (and anyone with "inside info" can correct me), Mugsey (the gangster) or his female counterpart is always around but Kit (the cowboy) works part time so it's a crap shoot. In the past few years, having been on GMR 30 or 40 times, I've only seen the western scene running maybe 2 times (even if you don't get the western show, you can tell when loading by the number of cars they load).

Whether or not they have it is based on the workload that gets entered into the system which is based on the estimate for the number of people they believe will be in the park. However it can be affected by lots of things like call ins or vehicles breaking down and so on. Close to Thanksgiving is probably a good bet. A night where there is Fantasmic or extra magic hours also will probably up your chances because there are usually more people in the park. Don't go to the ride before noon. They generally pull on vehicles through out the morning as the park gets busier. Also, don't wait until evening. The ride gets less busy (usually) towards the end of the night because people are going off to other things. So as the day goes on they will pull vehicles off again. So go in the middle of the day. Ask the Cast Member out front if they are running any "bandit" or "A" shows. This Cast Member may or may not know. If they say yes get in line and when you get through the pre-show and they ask how many are in your party say "We'd like to wait for a bandit (or "A") show please." If it's running they should accomodate you. It's not an entirely unusual request so you should find that the Cast are willing to help you out.

I think the reason why the Gangster gets more attention is because more people ask for that show than the cowboy.

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I think the reason why the Gangster gets more attention is because more people ask for that show than the cowboy.

No it's because the vehicles trigger effects as they go around the track. There are 5 sets of vehicles that can go around the track at any one time. The sets can either have a gangster and a cowboy vehicle or just a gangster vehicle. The way the ride system is set up is that the gangster vehicle can start the effects AND end them (shut the doors behind them, etc). The cowboy vehicle can only start them. Except the finale film which only the gangster vehicle can start. So you can have a gangster vehicle without a cowboy vehicle but you can never have a cowboy vehicle without a gangster vehicle. That's why you will always have gangster shows running and the number of cowboy vehicles will vary.

No it's because the vehicles trigger effects as they go around the track. There are 5 sets of vehicles that can go around the track at any one time. The sets can either have a gangster and a cowboy vehicle or just a gangster vehicle. The way the ride system is set up is that the gangster vehicle can start the effects AND end them (shut the doors behind them, etc). The cowboy vehicle can only start them. Except the finale film which only the gangster vehicle can start. So you can have a gangster vehicle without a cowboy vehicle but you can never have a cowboy vehicle without a gangster vehicle. That's why you will always have gangster shows running and the number of cowboy vehicles will vary.

unless you know a CM there who you can call early before you go you wont know; and when you do go and it is running, ask the CM at the inside entrance doors to the ride down in front by the movie screen that you would like the 'bandit' show - they like that more than the 'cowboy' show i am told lol;

Question is why don't they didn't design the ride alternate between the cowboy and the gangster. It seems it would be a better idea to design it so that it could have had either or. This would have lead to a better show experience. Or at least they should run the cowboy more often, so the show would seem random and not so canned.

Question is why don't they didn't design the ride alternate between the cowboy and the gangster. It seems it would be a better idea to design it so that it could have had either or. This would have lead to a better show experience. Or at least they should run the cowboy more often, so the show would seem random and not so canned.

This was the original design. However, it quickly became clear that early in the day or late in the evening or during slow times of the year it was a waste to have a number of vehicles go out with a row or two of people or with no one at all. It's a waste of labor and cutting it down is a very effective cost savings tool that still allows the same number of people to ride the ride.

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Posted 05 November 2009 - 10:17 AM

I have always wondered what determined which path you got ('Cowboy' path or 'Gangster' path). My parents didn't even believe me when I told them there were two versions of the ride!
This year was actually the first time I ever got the 'Cowboy' path. It felt nice to prove that it existed

~ Pirka

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